Running Server without monitor causes crash - help needed to identify cause
 

Hi,
I hope the server forum is the best match for my post, otherwise please redirect me.
I have a Fedora 12 Desktop machine running at a remote site and have no keyboard not a screen connected to it.
After rebooting it remotely I was surprised to learn the machine did not come back up again. (It did when I tested it while I was on site).

I have now look at the logs and 'messages' seem to point to gdm:
Apr 9 11:51:34 newcastle NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): device state change: 1 -> 2
Apr 9 11:51:34 newcastle NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): bringing up device.
Apr 9 11:51:35 newcastle kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Apr 9 11:51:35 newcastle NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): preparing device.
Apr 9 11:51:35 newcastle NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): deactivating device (reason: 2).
Apr 9 11:51:35 newcastle gdm-binary[2074]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 1.091233 seconds
Apr 9 11:51:35 newcastle gdm-binary[2074]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.477726 seconds
Apr 9 11:51:36 newcastle gdm-binary[2074]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.474680 seconds
Apr 9 11:51:36 newcastle gdm-binary[2074]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.474904 seconds
Apr 9 11:51:37 newcastle gdm-binary[2074]: WARNING: GdmDisplay: display lasted 0.475090 seconds

After this the message log stops and the machine turned itself off.


In the gdm log I see something like this:
(II) intel(0): I2C bus "HDMIDDC_C" initialized.
(II) intel(0): HDMI output 2 detected
(II) intel(0): EDID for output VGA
(II) intel(0): EDID for output HDMI-2
(II) intel(0): Output VGA disconnected
(II) intel(0): Output HDMI-2 disconnected
(WW) intel(0): No outputs definitely connected, trying again...
(II) intel(0): Output VGA disconnected
(II) intel(0): Output HDMI-2 disconnected
(WW) intel(0): Unable to find initial modes
(EE) intel(0): No valid modes.
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libvgahw.so
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found





So my question is - should it not be possible to startup the system without a monitor plugged in?
How can I get closer to finding out if this is a gdm issue or something else?

I guess I could just boot in run level 3, but I would prefer it if the staff at the remote site could plug in a monitor if needed.


Thanks in advance,
Soren

It is possible to boot without a monitor. What I did is forced it to boot in command line mode, and added a line in my inittab file that started getty on the serial port. That way you can login locally if you need, but without a screen connected. You can even use the "console" option with Linux and get it to log startup messages to that serial port.

Thanks for your suggestion,
Yes I realize you can boot without a monitor - the problem seems to be with gdm crashing on my particular Optiplex machine when no monitor is connected. I have network access so no need for serial port connection.
Regards
Soren

I suggest at least setting up your boot loader to pass "console" and "loglevel" arguments to the kernel, so it will log boot messages to the serial port. That way you will not have to connect a monitor to debug the boot process. You probably won't need to start getty on it though.